Killing the beast: taking a monster through multi-monitor 3D

We had the chance to test the Digital Storm Black|Ops Assassin Edition, with …

Just Cause 2

Just Cause 2 was one of the hidden gems of gaming in the past year, and it's a game that takes to gaming on multiple monitors and in 3D with aplomb. It worked well with no tweaking, and even with all the details and options turned on, I was able to game with an average of 45 frames per second. It looked wonderful, and I was able to play for long periods of time with no headaches in 3D, even across three monitors. This is the perfect game to show off the system, so I shot some video.

Just Cause 2

Needless to say, it's very hard to play a game and speak to a hypothetical audience. You'll forgive my slightly hobbled performance.

Just Cause 2: Flying a plane

Three different games, and three very different experiences and findings. So far, this is the game that performed the best under these conditions, with no image degradation, and beautiful 3D. The images popped off the screen, there seemed to be real depth to the image when I was swimming underwater, and I would often climb to the top of huge structures simply for the joy of jumping off and flying down in 3D.

Get ready to do some tweaking!

Having the power to run games across three monitors is very nice, and the system screamed through everything I put to it until we started adding 3D. But it's definitely tricky to find games that run well across three monitors. Just Cause 2 was simple, as was Portal and Left 4 Dead 2, but Call of Duty required a third-party program that fixed the horrible stretching problems we first encountered. Text is sometimes set to one of the three monitors, while in other games it was stretched all the way across all three and was tough to read.

Some games I couldn't get working at all, such as Bioshock, which had glitches in the 3D and wouldn't play in any non-standard resolutions. I'm absolutely sure others have gotten most of these games to run, but be prepared to fiddle, adjust settings, install programs, and read about other people's experiences on enthusiast boards for multi-monitor rigs. There just aren't that many people with these ultra-high-end systems, and those that are out there aren't catered to with any kind of ease of use. Some people will welcome the tweaking and consider it part of the fun. Others will not.

What's scary is the amount of power it takes to do 3D well; the GPU is enormously stressed by 3D. We found that, even with this system, it was a choice between playing on the three screens with a good framerate or dropping down to a single screen for 3D if you want to enjoy high quality graphics either way. The consoles are going to have real problems with 3D, and developers will be forced to make major compromises to show a 3D image.

What did we learn?

Personally, I was surprised at how tolerable 3D became when you had the power to keep the framerate high with all the options jacked up. At high framerates, with a smooth image, 3D was a wonderful addition to gaming, even if the image was noticeably dimmer. It was also amazing to play games stretched across three monitors. If you have the means, I highly recommend it.

It's also stunning when it all works well. I would invite friends over to play, and everyone was impressed by what they saw. The amount of desk space the system used was awe-inspiring, as was the mess of wires and the size and weight of the system. You'll need to learn how to manage space and cabling if this is a product you'd like to install in your home.

After a month, I packed it up and sent it back. The boxes were huge, and the FedEx employee looked at me like I was trying to hurt him when he picked everything up. People would ask me if I was tempted to simply buy the system after playing for so long, and while the thought occurred to me, the price was way too high. The cost of the system could buy a decent car, or be a nice addition to the kids' college fund. This is a decadent system. I was sad to see it go, but I hope to visit the system, or something very much like it, very soon, perhaps at E3. Wherever a publisher wants to add a little bit of the "wow" factor to their game.

Digital Storm puts together a hell of a system, and this was akin to being Icarus for a short time and flying very close to the sun. It wasn't always a smooth ride, but it was quite the adventure.